The first day of our 1998 family skiing holiday (Sue, Chris and Mike - John was off
skiing with school at Stowe in Vermont).
This proved to be a very mixed day. It started well enough but by the end of the day, Sue
had to be rescued by ski patrol and her confidence was completely shot.
We woke to overcast skies and with several inches of fresh snow on the ground near the
condo. After breakfast we went through the ski rental game .. Even an "express
reservation" didn't seem to save any time. Overall it took us more than half an hour
to collect our skis.
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Sue navigating First Time under overcast skies |
Chris on First Time |
Sue started full of confidence and skied right down First Time straight away and on the way up the Three Kings lift decided to go up to the summit. This proved to be a mistake.
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| Sue and Chris getting off Three Kings on the way to the Summit |
The new 6-pack lifts Pay Day and Bonanza got us up to the summit in no
time at all, but were pretty cold. We set off on the well known track to the Mid-Mountain
restaurant. Claimjumper was fine, but as soon as we turned off down Mid Mountain,
the trouble started. The top of the run was quite difficult to find because of a new blue
run which cuts across it and was not very well groomed. As soon as Sue hit loose snow, she
did a face plant. This one did not hurt. The next one a little further down the run did
and left her with a sore thumb and a small cut on the face. The damage to her confidence
was much worse however.
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Sue getting up from her first fall |
While Sue finished her coffee, Chris and I took one run from Pioneer down Red
Fox with lots of fresh powder.
Sue transferred to the Summit House and Chris and I did a series of runs from the Thaynes
lift. We started off with two blue runs, Single Jack and Keystone, both were
mogulled, but with lots of soft snow to make life easier. Both of these runs went pretty
well, so we moved up to Thaynes which was more difficult and made worse by cloud
which reduced visibility to a few yards in placed and then Double Jack. The moguls on
these runs were more formed and our skiing was a little less fluent but comfortable.
After lunch we all set off down towards the bottom. From the beginning it was clear that
Sue was going to struggle. Her confidence was gone and she found it hard to string more
than one turn together and by the time we got to the right turn on Miner's Mile we
weren't able to talk her any further down. Ski patrol and a snowmobile came to the rescue!
Chris and I headed for the bottom via Waterfall, lots of powder at the start and
then soft bumps on the bottom face.
We finished the day with two runs from Pay Day. Nail Driver was a great run
and we were able to ski the bumps almost fluently.
It was clear that Chris had problems with the feet in 1997 and with healthy toes and
properly fitting boots he was skiing beautifully.
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| Looking across from the resort center at the end of the day |
| Lift | Vertical | Easy Runs | Intermediate Runs | Advanced Runs |
| First Time | 270 | Sidewinder | ||
| First Time | 270 | First Time | ||
| Three Kings | 465 | Sidewinder | Silver Hollow | |
| Pay Day | 1278 | Bonanza Access | ||
| Bonanza | 1122 | Claim Jumper, Mid-Mountain | ||
| Coffee Break | ||||
| Pioneer | 965 | Red Fox | ||
| Pioneer | 965 | Single Jack | ||
| Thaynes | 875 | Keystone | ||
| Thaynes | 875 | Thaynes | ||
| Thaynes | 875 | Double Jack | ||
| Thaynes | 875 | |||
| Lunch Break | ||||
| Bonanza, Claim Jumper, Miner's Mile | ||||
| Bonanza | 1122 | Claim Jumper, Miner's Mile, Sidewinder | Silver Queen, Waterfall | |
| Pay Day | 1278 | Nail Driver | ||
| Pay Day | 1278 | Heckler, Pay Day | ||
| Total vertical | 12513 |
Last updated: 21/02/00
